The overall impression of the new building was that there was no personality, character and beauty, destroying the warm and traditional atmosphere of the ancient city and making old Beijing disappear. These monuments belong to the Chinese nation and also belong to me. I had a feeling of deprivation, as if someone had ruined it while I wasn't there. - Long Yingtai
On January 9, 1972, Liang Sicheng died with infinite regret and left a sentence, which was: Fifty years later, history will prove that I was right. In fact, it had not been fifty years since people had proved him right by his actions. Decades after his death, people began to understand his insistence and why he said tearing down a wall like digging up a piece of my flesh. But it was too late, and his Liang Chen plan with Chen Zhanxiang failed, and the ancient buildings were all vanished under artificial destruction.
If we want to talk about what modern times can see after the Liang-Chen plan is adopted, we have to start with this plan. Liang Chen refers to Liang Sicheng and Chen Zhanxiang, one is an architect and the other is an urban planning expert. Both of them were among the best in China's architectural circles at that time, both of whom were college graduates and knew a lot about domestic architecture. It is actually a matter of course for two such people to become good friends, especially when they still have a common goal, and their common goal is the old City of Beijing. The old here is really old, not the modern imitation, that is the old precipitated by history.
In December 1949, as the mayor of Beijing, Nie Rongzhen held an urban planning meeting in the office building. The participants included leaders and Soviet experts, as well as Liang Chen and others. The plan given by Soviet experts was to build administrative centers on both sides of Chang'an Avenue centered on Tiananmen Square, and Liang Chen was surprised at the time. This is a thousand-year-old capital, how can a professionally trained person come up with such an ignorant idea? As one of the top experts in The Chinese architectural community at that time, they began to think about what kind of design was the best.
Chen Zhanxiang did not have the concept of leadership, he thought it was just to discuss the plan, so he immediately put forward the opposite opinion. After the meeting, Liang Chen believed that in order to argue on the basis of reason, it was necessary to come up with a plan, which was the original intention of Liang Chen's plan. They did not sleep, not afraid of how deep the water was, even if Liang Sicheng was seriously ill. In early 1950, the Liang Chen Plan was introduced, advocating the protection of Beijing's ancient buildings and city walls. The plan they gave was to build a new Beijing city in the western suburbs, that is, not to build on the old city, and if this plan was implemented, people would see Beijing City very differently today.
It will be like a burden that has been picked up, and this end is the old Beijing city, original. This end is the center of high-speed development, bustling and bustling, with traffic strung together in the middle. Those ancient buildings with the heaviness of history will be known to future generations and become places that countless modern people cannot match for scenic spots, but all this has failed, and Liang Chen has also paid a price for it. Lin Hui died of a serious illness, Liang Sicheng was criticized many times, and during the ten years, the books and materials in his collection were confiscated. On January 9, 1972, Liang Sicheng, who had been depressed for many years, died of illness.
Chen Zhanxiang, who should have had a better life, was a graduate of a prestigious school. He was invited to return to China, and he proposed the development of the Pudong New Area in Shanghai, but his ideals were halted for a while by the war. On the eve of liberation, he had already bought a plane ticket to Hong Kong, but for the sake of the Beijing dream in his heart, he stayed. Chen Zhanxiang's life has also changed as a result, and the day of the Liang Chen plan must be the happiest day in China. Because since then, he has faced endless criticism, and Liang Sicheng has had to criticize him as a host.
Later, Chen Zhanxiang's son said that during that time, Chen Zhanxiang thought about jumping countless times. One of the things better about him than Liang Sicheng is that he lived to the end of ten years, in fact, even in his old age, he had countless opportunities to go to the United States. But he did not go, just for the sake of his beijing planning dream, on March 22, 2001, Chen Zhanxiang died. Someone gave him this evaluation: his life, ambitious and unpaid, but gained the meaning of sharing a destiny with a great city. Yes, they have passed away, but history has proved them right, but after all, what has been demolished cannot be returned.